Bleak weather in Melbourne is threatening to throw the Australian Open schedule into complete chaos.
Organisers already had to scramble to cram 22 cancelled or postponed first-round singles matches from Tuesday into the day-three program before more rain compounded their troubles.
Early play on Wednesday was confined to Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena, which all have roofs.
But no play was possible on the outside courts until at least 3pm - and even that looked optimistic as showers continued under grey skies.
With the extreme heat policy implemented on Tuesday amid temperatures in the high-30s, leading to almost three hours of delays, before evening showers forced more multiple stoppages, the backlog of matches was already a headache for organisers.
Australians Thanasi Kokkinakis, Max Purcell and Aleksandar Vukic are among the players who hope to finish their respective first-round matches on Wednesday after the weather wiped them out on Tuesday night.
A total of 10 matches had been cancelled and another 12 postponed at varying stages.
They were all rescheduled for day three, when the other side of the draw was supposed to finish the second round.
Kokkinakis was only five points away from a potential straight-sets win over Fabio Fognini, leading 6-1 6-2 4-2 with the Italian serving at 15-40.
Vukic was part way through his clash with American qualifier Brandon Holt, trailing 6-4 1-6 4-2.
Purcell was about to enter a potentially decisive fourth-set tiebreak with Emil Ruusuvuori, down 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-6 against the Finn.
